Knitting Up a Storm

I'm up to my dish pan hands in knitted dish towels this is the latest pattern Clover Tweed Dishcloth. I loved the pattern and thought it would be great for my SIL, since her kitchen is all ocean inspired. I have exactly three more to go and I'll be finished with the knitting of the these for Christmas, whew I can't wait after a while knitting these get tedious although they are a great knit for Knit Nite, I don't need to think and I can gab all nite without making any mistakes.

This, on the other hand is my sweater it's the February Lady Sweater pattern which I fell in love with in August. I purchased Universal Yarn LP in WW in 75% acrylic 25% wool, I using my Harmony needles with a 60" cable. I have to say it is really soft and squishy yarn I love the feel of it as I knit, I also appreciate the long print of the colors they almost get around the entire sweater before a color change happens. This is my first top down raglan sweater and it's going well. I learned to make button holes from cable cast on instead of the usual YO, which was really interesting and a new technique. Best of all I love the colors they are just what I would wear and I hope that there will be some kind of winter this year so that I could get some use out of the sweater.I don't have any weaving pics because well it looks the same only with more yardage, so I won't bore you guys with it. I hope to finish sometime this weekend and start to do the embroidering, I guess then the pics will be worth taking.

Actual Weaving

I finally got around to warping my loom for the baby blanket, It's been a while since my loom was sitting nakkid and I was outta practice. I got it warped and as I was zipping along getting into the groove of things

I find this, arrrrgggghhhhh a knot! In the middle of the skein after I've threaded 6 wraps through. Yes I was annoyed but I wasn't about to undo any of the wraps since I was getting close to the end of the yarn and didn't want to risk not having enough to finish.

Once I got over myself, I started to weave, and my back started to ache, I guess four hours of warping and weaving was all I could stand, I'd forgotten about that part but was quickly, if not painfully reminded. I like the colors and the stripes, I want to embelish them after I'm done with some embroidered flowers, ribbon and cute buttons.
This is 12" of 36" x 2 blankets, I guess @ four hours per session I should be done in a few days.

Tenacity

I have the flu, so if this following is sporadic, please excuse me, I'm in a self medicated over the counter drug induced state of mind or better out of mind:

I wanted to share a few more photos of my vacation with you all along with the weaving loom pics that I found in the Holyland Experience I also have these pic of the model of Jerusalem A.D. 66 as you can see it's large and the detail was fantastic, I found that this exhibit captured my attention in an interesting way. Everything here was hand painted, all the people have faces and expressions, nothing was left untouched by the artists' hands. The detail and time it took to build (seven years, and three to paint) really hit me; just the tenacity of the team that worked on it, really was amazing and inspiring. The artist in me wanted to touch it, feel the pieces, but I was not allowed, I wonder what makes us want to touch and feel things, I find I want to do this all the time as if my hands can relate a different message to my brain than my eyes.
Of course I thought well, that's how we in the fibre community also work whether you work alone, in a guild or workshops it takes years of weaving or knitting, handling fibre, playing, sampling, swatching, creating and tinkering before we come up with, if we ever do, a perfect piece of fabric. A fabric that satisfies the soul, mind and heart, wouldn't that be a sight!
Funny how all creative and inspired artists tend to have the same bend to satisfy yourself with creativity, beauty and work. Even though you may not be happy with what you create, it's still a product of your mind's eye, what you think it should look like visually, feel like texturally. It's a powerful statement that artists make; expression of self and the ability to inspire.

SPARED

I'd like to thank you guys for your concern I really appreciate it. Ike is in Cuba destroying the island as I type today. It's expected to merge out of there on Wednesday and then go into the Gulf of Mexico where it will again intensify and head towards the gulf states, again. I feel for all of you in those states, it's been relentless. I pray for your safety and an end to this season, which has been very active and destructive.

STORMS, HURRICANES AND IKE

We here in Florida are use to the six month hurricane season, most people get six months of winter, we on the other hand have the chance of losing property and life every six months, exciting huh?? Well not really, most seasons not much happens, which we can thank God for, but then there are season like this one, where we are watching three storms lined up like duckies just anticipating what, where and when they will hit and how hard will they hit. We are boarding up as I type, which in itself is morbid, since in darkens the house to the point where you need night vision goggles to go to the bathroom. I don't particularly like to not see the outside world, but safety supersedes the Claustrophobic atmosphere. I pray that the storm will take the path of least resistance and go into the North Atlantic far from any land mass, this one is a serious storm a Cat 3 or 4 by the time it gets here and that is a scary thought, even scarier is when the newscaster tell us to "hunker down" I hate those words, cause with a cat 3 or more no matter what kind of "hunkering down" you do, your butts' in serious trouble if it's a direct hit.

So my friends, if the power goes out, I'll be incommunicado for a while, prayerfully we won't get much and everyone will be all right.

I'M BACK!!

I had a great vacation and am back to my daily routine, amazing how hard it is to come back into your normal life after a few days. We visited the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Animal Kingdom and Epcot, by far my favorite Disney Parks. Although I think that Disney should change the jingle from "the happiest place on earth" to " the most aggravating place for parents on earth". I love kids, I have three of my own, but I witnessed the total meltdown of both parents and kids at least a dozen times this weekend. It was scary and wickedly funny, cause really does anyone think that kids at Disney are not over stimulated, tired or cranky by 4:00 in the afternoon? Well obviously I saw a few parents who missed that tidbit.

This is the Weaver's Loom in Holy Land it was an interesting upright loom with pegs, the actress playing the part didn't know anything about it or weaving, but she was a sweet girl. She didn't even have a beating fork and was using a carpenter's file to beat the weft in place very odd to see, this is what was on the loom and she said they would use it for a rug at one of the exhibits. Each one of the weft pegs were holding up to 10 picks each, which made for a dense fabric. This is a pic of a woven fabric I saw at the Kali River Rapids in Animal Kingdom it was faded and worn from the sun and rain, but the embroidery was outstanding.

Then this is a panel from the same attraction, although not woven but carved, I found that the colors were really vibrant and the pattern just spoke to me, I loved this one and thought it would make an insanely beautiful tapestry, if I ever intend to play with that medium some day. After a few shots like these the hubster was starting to get antsy, and asked me to please curtail the weaving, knitting picture taking for the vacation. So I did, although in hindsight I really should have taken some pics of the Moroccan textiles, but I know I'll be back there so no big deal.

And since we drove to and fro, I got to finish these baby wash cloths at least half of the presents are finished on these two sets.

So all in all I had a great time and enjoyed the time off, but I'm also glad to be back, as I have a lot of ideas and plans for my fiber crafts.